10 Best Western TV Shows Based On Books, Ranked
Some of television's finest Westerns started on the page. From frontier epics to modern crime dramas, we're ranking 10 adaptations worth saddling up for.
1. Centennial - This ambitious 1970s TV miniseries, based on James A. Michener's novel of the same name, chronicles the history of a Colorado town from frontier times to the 1970s. It tackles themes like Native American displacement in a brutally honest way and features a multigenerational saga.
2. The Son - Adapted from Philipp Meyer's Pulitzer Prize-nominated novel, this AMC series follows a cattle rancher turned oil tycoon who was kidnapped by Comanches as a child. The show explores themes of greed and displacement through a morally ambiguous character, Pierce Brosnan, who delivers a complex performance.
3. The Sacketts - This Western miniseries, based on novels by Louis L Amour, stars Sam Elliott and Tom Selleck as three brothers who journey westward in pursuit of the American Dream. Along the way, they encounter feuds, gangs, and danger, making it a thrilling horse opera with an engaging family saga.
4. Joe Pickett - This neo-Western series, based on C.J. Box's novels, stars Michael Dorman as a game warden in Saddlestring, Wyoming. Dorman plays a relatable everyman who becomes entangled in a murder mystery that exposes corruption and puts his family in danger. Though short-lived, the series offers compelling crime drama with a Western sheen.
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